Review: Anker Liberty 4 NC

When it comes to affordable wireless earbuds, Anker’s Soundcore line seems to have found the cheat code. Models like the company’s excellent Space A40 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) offer good sound, flagship features, and seriously impressive noise canceling for as little as a third the cost of mega buds from brands like Sony, Samsung, and Apple.

The new Liberty NC are another shockingly well-appointed pair of earbuds at $100. Think of a feature, and these buds probably have at least a passable version of it. There are only a few exceptions reserved for the cream of the crop, like Apple’s fantastic Adaptive Transparency Mode.

With all that bounty at such a low price, there are some compromises here, including fussy controls and a few features that don’t quite work as advertised. Still, with this many goodies all wrapped in a suitably comfy and stylish form factor, it’s hard to put up much of a fight against Anker’s new buds.

For budget in-ears, the Liberty 4 NC are notably flashy. They fall short of Vegas-strip looks, but their variety of colorways and touches like the case’s lighted front button and interior lighting set above the buds give a futuristic vibe.

The case’s matte exterior feels well-built and good in your hands, reminiscent of the egg-like case you’ll get with Google’s Pixel Buds Pro—one of many competitors that cost double or more at full price. As with the Space A40, I was delighted to find the case is Qi-charging compatible, something plenty of pricier buds skip.

The buds themselves mimic Apple’s stem-shaped design. They stick out farther for a more conspicuous look than the AirPods Pro, but their light weight makes them comfy for hours, and once again there’s little here that stands out as notably budget. The caveat is the four pairs of silicon ear tips that look and feel flimsy.

Another budget giveaway, and the one most worthy of pause, is the Liberty 4 NC’s touch controls. Like a lot of touchpads from wireless earbuds a few years back, they’re not always accurate, likely because Anker doesn’t provide much space for the contact point. They mostly worked for me, but I found the right-side controls in particular wouldn’t register at times, and you have to be very deliberate when pressing. They also aren’t as intuitive as what Apple and other premium brands provide.

Credit where it’s due, the controls are fully programmable in Soundcore’s app, allowing for comprehensive control over playback and other features. You can mimic commands on both sides, add volume adjustment, and pretty much arrange the series of single, double, or triple taps (along with a hold command) as you please.

Investigating the Soundcore app further, you’ll find yourself with authority over a vast array of features that easily trump most earbuds at this price.

For starters, you can choose between adaptive active noise canceling, which will adjust to your environment, or controlling it manually. You’ll also find two versions of transparency mode (vocal and full), and in a parody of Sony’s loaded control system, even a version designed to adapt to different transportation modes like trains, planes, and various automobiles. Wind Buffering is one of my favorite extras, effectively keeping your ears from getting blown out while using transparency mode in a breeze.

There’s also a multiband EQ (which definitely comes in handy) and a sound-customization setting that uses a sort of hearing test, though I’m not sure how effective it is at improving the experience. Similarly, the 3D audio feature à la Apple and Sony didn’t seem to offer much sonic enhancement. Some of the Liberty 4 NC’s features seem to just be … there because others have them.

There are plenty more to go around, though, including an earbuds finder, a latency reducer for gaming, multi-point audio to connect to two devices at once, and LDAC high-resolution streaming for supported Android phones (though you can’t use LDAC and multipoint pairing together).

If you’re one to blast tunes beyond what’s healthy, there’s a Safe Volume feature that tells you how loud you’re playing, including a switch to limit playback volume. If you like to tinker, these buds will keep you busy.

Not every Liberty 4 NC feature works as expected, and that extends to its massive battery-playback claims. Soundcore claims 10 hours of playback time and 50 hours total with the charging case, but this doesn’t take into account energy-draining features like noise canceling, wind buffering, and so on. I got more like six to seven hours with ANC, and that’s at middle or low volume. That’s still respectable, and you’ve got four recharges in reserve, but 10 and 50 is a stretch.

I was also slightly annoyed by the lack of granularity between volume levels. I’d sometimes find one level too loud and the level below too quiet. This is one of those audio nerd annoyances, I admit, but if you’re sensitive like me you’ll want to take note.

And while I’m stoked that the Liberty 4 NC added the auto-pause feature the A40 lack, it takes a second or two to kick in, which isn’t the case for most buds I’ve auditioned. Maybe you can have it all, but there are always compromises for saving some cash.

There aren’t many compromises when it comes to noise canceling, though. For this price it is simply stellar, besting flagships from a few years back and coming within spitting distance of some of the best noise cancelers around, particularly in the lower register.

Playing my go-to airplane cabin test video through studio monitors, the Liberty 4 NC suppressed the droning hum of flight noise to a general whisper, easily outdoing the once mighty Jabra Elite 85t and seeming to push past the Space A40 as well. The buds didn’t quite match Bose’s last-gen QuietComfort buds here, but considering those are still some of the best cancelers on the market—and towed a $280 MSRP at release—that’s a victory.

Taking them out of the lab, the Liberty 4 NC continued to flex their skills, limiting noises like passing cars to a soft whoosh and almost totally eliminating my aggravating robot vacuum on its 4 pm run. While far from all-quieting, the buds are good enough to make me appreciate their adjustable cancellation to keep my wife from accidentally sneaking up on me.

Photograph: Anker

These won’t stand up to the best on the market, like Bose’s latest QuietComfort 2 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) or Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 (8/10, WIRED Recommends), particularly when it comes to the always difficult task of quieting high-frequency noises like dog barks and voices, but damn if they’re not shockingly good for the money.

Calling and transparency mode aren’t quite on par, but both are serviceable. Sounds are partially obfuscated with transparency mode, but it still keeps you aware of your situation, and I loved the ability to add wind suppression to stop breezes from aggravating my ears on a dog walk. Calls weren’t ultra-clear, but I had no trouble hearing folks and received no complaints over multiple days.

When it comes to audio performance, the Liberty 4 NC sound similar to their cousins, the A40, offering a snappy but clear presentation. Soundcore aptly calls the sound “crisp,” presenting a tight attack that’s especially notable in brighter instruments like snares, cymbals, or horns.

It took me a while to get used to the sound, but I settled in nicely, especially after adding my demands to the multiband EQ, such as lowering the sibilant frequencies at 6.5 kHz and suppressing bass by a few decibels. Even when tamed, bass is full and powerful without taking up inordinate space in the sonic profile. It sometimes gets overzealous, but it’s fairly musical and adds some nice heft to hip hop and electronic tracks.

There’s no denying you’ll get more from flagship earbuds as long as you don’t mind flexing your wallet. But if you’re trying to stay at $100 or less, it’s hard to deny what the Liberty 4 NC offer. Even setting aside their loads of features, their noise canceling stands tall on its own, making these buds an enticing option for savvy budget shoppers.